Recommended Books

May 2014

31/05/2014

Two posts in a day? I myself cannot believe it. But I do a lot of prep beforehand and I edit my videos when I am taking a break from my work work, my day job. Anyway, as I have mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoy crafting and making videos.The whole process is very relaxing or me. Sometimes, I get a bit stressed out when I try to publish and I get error messages but most often than not, it is a great experience.

Now, I have used a few stamps in the video to try and create a scenery. I would like to challenge you to look at all your stamps and put them together on a card or a layout. Then do a video response or even leava a link to your project in the comment section below. I would really like to have a look.

You can watch the video HERE on youtube in HD. And as usual, while you arel there, hit the 'like' button if you have liked the video, subscribe and comment please. Otherwise you can watch it right here below.

My battery died near the end - so here is a picture of the final project.

I have a video share with you today. I bought a few Drawing Inks by Winsor & Newton as I wanted to have a play, and experiment with them to refine my Pen & Ink drawing skills. When I did my Fine Art at University, we hardly looked at this technique which I find very interesting and can be quite effective if used skillfully.

I remember using this for my GCSE Art prep exam, back in the days.I had a fantastic teacher, to whom I owe my confidence in Art and Design - His name was Mr Narainsamy , a fantastic teacher and inspiring artist. He taught me how to use black indian Ink with water to create a landscape. I remember really like that technique, but then I discovered water colour and acrylic paints! I never really looked back at Pen and Inks then.

So, I went to 'The Range' and got myself a few , which I showed and swatched in the video. Inks are very pigmented and they do dry fast. So you have to work fast , in my opinion. I also found it helpful to saturate the paper with water when you want to move the ink around. I have used 300gsm Water Colour Paper by Daler Rowney but I was wondering if there is a special paper to use with inks. The water colour paper was fine but, do we need a more sleek surface as opposed to a porous surface? I will do more research and experimentation on this for sure.

Anyway, you can watch the video below or HERE, on youtube in HD. While you are there , please hit 'like' button if you liked it, subscribe if you haven't and leave me your comments so I know who came by.

This art work is totally random as my main focus was to play with the inks and experiment with the way they react with each other. But then I thought I would make a journal page instead of just dropping inks on paper. So I made a quick sketch, with no referenced picture, just a quick one from memory. I hope you enjoyed this time lapse video. I have another tutorial coming up for you very soon, it is an Inktense Colouring video, so keep your eyes peeled!

26/05/2014

Hope this blog post reaches you on time. This is a super quick one to show you these amazing products I got for cheap, I mean really cheap, from Sizzix website.

Watch video on youtube HERE in HD and you will also find all the information in the description box below video. While you are there , subscribe if you haven't and follow me on twitter for other random chats.

18/05/2014

Today I would like to share a watercolour background resist technique using Micro Glaze.

Micro Glaze is a creamy technique which is good for resist technique, and I did hear somewhere that it is very similar to vaseline. Now do not quote me on this as I have not tried the vaseline on my project....yet. If you wish, you can have a go. But , the texture does feel and look like vaseline. It is a product by Judikins and I am so sorry but I do not remember where I bought it from. On the small jar of Micro Glaze, it says that the product can also be buffed for a shine. In this video, you can watch me use this as a resist.

I have used my DIY spray paints (links under video on youtube) and I wanted a subdued watercolour look for the background.

I hope you will enjoy this video. Please watch in HD on youtube HERE and hit the like button if you liked, comment so I know you were there and subscribe if you haven't.

If you really can't be bothered go go to youtube, then watch it below:)

Up close and personal:-Pictures

If you go on youtube, you will see links to my haul video too, where I featured this stamp and where I bought it from. You will also see link to my DIY spray paints. Whenever you watch my video on youtube, always check the description box below video as I tend to put all info there.

The service was fantastic. Follow them on facebook to see sample of works made using the stamps on their website but also for updates about new arrivals. I am so pleased that there is somewhere in the UK now where I can buy those sets that you know you can only find in the USA, and often it will take ages before it reaches us. But not anymore huh!

As promised , here are pictures of my Gelli plate print outs. I had a ball experimenting with my Gelli plate and I was right, Gelli plate is totally my cup of tea.

I have a video showing how I tried making one at home and it was a total fail! I decided to share it anyway on youtube, as often , people learn from other people's mistakes, right? If you are looking to make your own this video is not for you, but if you are curious as to how I managed to be a Calamity Jane during my DIY Gelli Plate , then check this video out! LOL

FAILED ATTEMPT AT DIY GELLI PLATE

After that, of course, I was gutted. I decided to buy one. It is not cheap as you may already know and I was not 100% sure I was to enjoy using it. So I told my dear hubby about my agony(lol) and he told me he will gift me one when we go to Alexandra Palace, which is a yearly event during April, which happens to me by birthday month. Each year, I go to the Big Stamping and Scrabooking Show at Alexandra Palace , in April, with all my gift money and I get my crafty supplies. Here is a video about this year's Ally Pally's goodies where I showcase the purchase of my Gelli Plate too.

If you want to have a nosey, then check this video out:-

So, needless to say that once I had my Gelli Plate, I was itching to use it. I wanted to make a video as well to share with you all. But I had so many issues while trying to publish it on my computer, before uploading on youtube. If you do not make videos, here is the deal. Once you take the video clips from your camera, into your editing software, in my case I used Imovie, I would then edit the video. It depends on the project, but I do spend roughly 1 to 2 hours editing, when the video is very long. I edit to make it shorter, to annotate so you could read the products I am using or anything I think you should know. Then, I would fast forward some clips, others I will leave as is, just so you could see the process better. However, with this video, once I have done with editing, I then would normally publish it on my computer.This one would not publish at all. Publishing takes another hour or more to finalise. So I would go and publish, only to realise after 2 or 3 hours that , there has been an error -49 ! I then, close everything and try publishing again. I did that for nearly 12-16 times, no kidding. It took me weeks to finally get this out to you.

I have been very patient because I persevere thinking there should be a way out. So I exported the movie through MPEG Streamclip to a .mov file, then I bring this file back into Imovie. Also , I removed all the small clips I had on fastforward and normal mode. I did the whole video as one big clip on fast forward mode. Needless to say to you how happy I was when at the end of publishing there was no error message. I did a lil chicken dance and uploaded it on youtube!

Finally when the video was uploaded to youtube, I did not have the time to do a blog post. I decided today to do this as I have another new video up already. Anyway if you have any questions, let me know. You can leave me comments here or on youtube. By the way, if you watch my video on youtube, please hit like if you liked it, comment so I know you were there and subscribe if you haven't:)